Garden bird research

Feeding

At a time when green spaces in towns and cities are coming under increasing pressure, our gardens represent havens for many species of wildlife. Birds in particular come regularly to many gardens to feed, often on seeds, nuts or scraps put out by people. This food supply helps many birds through tough winters and may help them to raise more young.

Here at the University of Reading, ecologists in the Division of Environmental Biology are launching a series of projects to look at some of the impacts of feeding wild birds (including red kites) in our gardens, including the effects on species other than birds. As well as our other research, we currently have two volunteer projects running. The first is the Reading bird feeding survey, and the second is a short nationwide questionnaire for people who feed red kites in their gardens. 

Volunteer project 1: Reading bird feeding survey

The first project is a long-term survey that simply involves recording how much and what type of bird food you put out in your garden.

More details on the survey and how to take part.

Volunteer project 2:  Red kite garden feeding questionnaire

In order to build on our other work on red kites locally, we have now launched a nationwide questionnaire for people who feed kites in their gardens as there is currently no detailed information available about this.

Read more about our red kite research here

Complete the feeding questionnaire here

Past volunteer project: Do garden birds earn their keep?

This was a shorter experiment to look at whether garden birds reduce the numbers of insects on plants. This experiment has now been completed and the results are soon to be submitted for journal publication.  

More details of the experiment

Future research

More research will be starting over the next year so watch this space!

If you are not able to take part in the current projects but would like to be kept informed of our progress and future volunteer opportunities, please email us at gardenwatch@reading.ac.uk now.

 

All images © Mark Fellowes.